Then There was One: Brandon Courtney
Then there was 1 athlete still working hard on his skill set as Brandon Courtney qualified for the State 4A Track Meet in Austin this weekend.
Courtney had a PR (Personal Best) finishing second in the Region Track Meet last weekend as this Sophomore continues to whittle down his CL best time for the 300 Meter Hurdles.
Courtney’s time of 39.56 is now right at 3 seconds better than Karl Tucker’s 42.23 that he ran Region Meet back in 2010.
Top 10 300 Meter Hurdles name time when 1. Brandon Courtney 39.56 2015 Region Meet 2. Karl Tucker 42.23 2010 Region Meet 3. Joe Marple 42.26 2015 JV District Meet 4. Dakota Repa 42.32 2011 5. Luke Steward 42.44 2011 6. Chandler Faulkner 42.50 2012 7. Gerrit Wilkins 43.81 2015 JV District Meet 8. Devin Coco 45.38 2014 9. Alex Martinez 45.66 2013 10. Todd Pippin 45.72 2010
There were three Hawks that broke into the top 10 this year and two of those (Joe Marple and Gerrit Wilkins) did so running with the Junior Varsity.
Courtney is also performing as a Sophomore, so that makes this group of athletes competitors for two more years.
Competition will only enhance these three hurdlers as they continue this event.
The 300 Meter Hurdle has to rank as one of the most grueling races as the event is an all out sprint with an added hurdle to keep the race interesting.
In late March last year, Courtney was running a 41.74 time at the Hawk Relays and this young man had moved up about 3 meets earlier from Junior Varsity team.
His Region time this year (39.56) compared to his 2nd place finish of 40.98 last season’s Area Meet, is the type of improvement you would look for to inch up the State Best’s ladder.
At last year’s Region Meet, Courtney finished 6th and had a time of 42.48 in his freshman season.
2014 Season 2015 Season Feb. 23 Bastrop 45.62 JV Feb. 21 Hawk 41.19 Feb. 27 Blanco 44.73 JV March 5 Bandera 42.19 March 7 Hays 43.24 Varsity March 12 LakeTravis 42.18 March 20 Wimberley 43.06 Varsity March 26 Texas Relays April 10 District 40.51 Varsity April 2 Wimberley 41.81 April 16 Area 40.98 Varsity April 15 District 39.96 April 26 Region 42.48 Varsity April 23 Area 39.68 April 2 Region 39.56
What was interesting about Courtney is his ascension from Junior Varsity to Varsity his first year as he started with a 45.82 time that improved to a year’s best of 40.51 in the district meet, an improvement of 3 seconds from a Wimberley Meet, to being in the District meet three weeks later.
“I think my size and the training gave me the confidence to run varsity, and also working out in the weight room,” Courtney thought as he talked about how he continued to improve during his freshman season.
Now comes another meet milestone as we can only wait to see how this ending for track will culminate.
In this year’s Region Meet, Courtney was on, as he rose to the occasion to put himself in a position to hurdle at the highest stage in Austin.
“I want to place and I don’t want to finish last,” Courtney said when responding to what his goals for this race would be. “This is a good experience to go to a D-I college and just go and see the surroundings and all the people I have raced and see some new people.”
“I have been consistently running under 40 seconds and I knew in my last race I was in the same area,” Courtney hurdled while talking how his Region race transpired. “I was in the third lane and I wanted to keep up those first 200 yards, then when I wanted to push it and I had a little bit but not a lot on my finish.”
By this time of the year, Courtney has a good idea of what he can do on this race.
“The Coaches are making run everyday and my conditioning is pretty good but it does get kind of lonely,” Courtney deduced as he pondered how his practices have been going for this week.
Being the last sporting event of the year sometimes can be lonely, especially in a sport like track & field when you continue to lose teammates as the event gets to the last stage.
The ReSporter and the Hawk Nation, wish Brandon Courtney the best as he takes his final curtain call, Go Hawks and Go Brandon!!